Product Owner

Product Owner

We are seeking a Product Owner to join our Transformation Management Team (TMO). The ideal candidate will work closely with business, technical, and vendor partners to ensure the successful delivery of key corporate workstreams. You will drive the identification of business value for feature delivery and manage a prioritized backlog for software development and business process improvements. This role is integral to bridging the needs of stakeholders and ensuring that actionable features are delivered within an agile framework.

As a Product Owner, you will collaborate with cross-functional teams to solve pain points across platforms and through partner integrations. A strong background in healthcare and insurance, along with a passion for improving healthcare systems, is preferred. You must be a strategic thinker, skilled at utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data to inform product roadmaps, and have excellent communication and collaboration skills.

This is a full-time hybrid position, in our Parsippany office Tuesdays and Wednesdays and remote Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Essential Functions & Responsibilities

• Drive value by aligning product goals with overall organizational strategies.
• Partner closely with cross-functional teams to define product strategy, guide the development process, and drive the product vision.
• Develop well-scoped requirements and prioritize work for engineering teams, dev ops, and data analysts.
• Execute product commitments to consistently deliver meaningful business outcomes.
• Maintain a prioritized product backlog, defining features, value, function, security, and testing needs.
• Champion product goals and support an agile software development lifecycle (SDLC), identifying and documenting Epics, Features, PBIs (Product Backlog Items), and tasks.
• Facilitate communication between business and technical teams to ensure solutions meet both business requirements and technical standards.
• Use agile methodologies (e.g., user stories, acceptance criteria) to drive functional needs.
• Be the voice of the customer, ensuring effective communication between stakeholders and the agile core team.
• Collaborate with sponsors to create a clear product roadmap aligned with both business and technical goals.
• Break down large initiatives into logical Epics, Features, and PBIs for execution based on team capacity.
• Lead the elicitation of business requirements and translate them into user stories and technical requirements.
• Write clear and concise requirements specifications in natural language.
• Regularly review and update the backlog, priorities, and specifications with project stakeholders.
• Facilitate agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, sprint refinements, retrospectives, and daily stand-ups.
• Ensure proper change management practices for maintaining and communicating requirement baselines.

This job description is not exhaustive and may change as business needs evolve. Duties and responsibilities may be assigned or adjusted as required.

Competency - Description

Problem Solving - Ability to analyze complex situations, identify issues, and develop innovative solutions.

Analysis - Strong capability to assess situations and make data-driven decisions.

Critical Thinking - Excellent judgment and reasoning skills to approach problems and challenges effectively.

Communication - Clear and effective communication skills for both written and verbal interactions.

Confidence - Ability to make decisions and communicate those decisions confidently to both internal and external stakeholders.

Self-Development - Continual improvement of skills and knowledge to remain effective in the role.

Dealing with Ambiguity - Ability to work effectively in an environment with frequent change and uncertainty.

Creativity - Applying creative problem-solving techniques to achieve business goals.

SQL - Proficiency in SQL for querying databases and analyzing data.

Technical-Functional Knowledge - Deep understanding of technical and functional aspects in product development, especially in agile frameworks.

EDI-Healthcare - Knowledge of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in the healthcare sector.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• 3+ years of product management, business/systems analysis, or project management experience, with a proven track record of successful project delivery.
• Strong background in healthcare and insurance, CX experience preferred.
• Excellent strategic thinking, problem-solving, and execution skills in handling complex problems.
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies (Scrum, XP, SAFe) and traditional waterfall methodologies.
• Experience in managing product development life cycles and cross-functional collaboration.
• Proficiency in utilizing agile tools such as Azure DevOps, Jira, or similar.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to build relationships across diverse teams.
• Self-motivated, proactive, and able to work under minimal supervision.
• Data-driven with strong proficiency in analytics and testing best practices.
• Ability to deliver large-scale product features and improvements in a fast-paced environment.
• Proven ability to prioritize work, manage ambiguity, and adapt to changing business needs.

Required Experience & Education

• 3-5 years of relevant experience in product management, project management, or business analysis.
• Experience in healthcare, insurance, or consulting roles is highly preferred.

Educational Requirements:

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent professional experience.

Certifications (preferred but not required):

• PMI ACP, PMI PMP, IIBA CBAP, or SAFe certifications are considered a plus.

Required Physical Abilities

• Ability to sit and perform extensive keyboard and PC work.
• Ability to walk, talk, or hear.
• Occasionally required to stand and reach with hands and arms.

Working Environment

• Ability to meet deadlines and attendance standards.
• Moderate noise level in the work environment.
• The role may require signing a confidentiality agreement.

In addition to salary, Delta Dental of New Jersey's offerings may also include, for eligible employees, discretionary and formulaic incentive awards. Available offerings may vary by geographic location, job level, skills, experience, qualifications, education and date of hire.

New Jersey Pay Range

$90,000 - $105,000 USD

About Delta Dental Of New Jersey & Connecticut Delta Dental of New Jersey, Inc. is New Jersey's leading dental benefits company, providing or administering coverage to more than 2.2 million people through contracts with groups and individuals in New Jersey and Connecticut. In Connecticut, Delta Dental of Connecticut, Inc. is a licensed insurer that writes dental and vision coverage on an insured basis, and Delta Dental of New Jersey administers self-funded dental benefit programs. Offering dental benefits since 1969, Delta Dental of New Jersey's mission is to promote oral health to the greatest number of people by providing accessible dental benefit programs of the highest quality, service, and value. Through its philanthropic arm, the Delta Dental of New Jersey Foundation awards more than $1M in grants annually to support access to dental care and education for underserved children, seniors, veterans, and those with special needs, as well as funds workforce development programs for dental assisting and dental hygiene across New Jersey and Connecticut.

Benefits In addition to a great culture, we offer excellent benefits including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short and long-term disability, spending accounts, and matching 401k. We value our associates and support everyone with learning and development, recognition programs, active wellness and diversity initiatives, tuition reimbursement, and generous paid time off to recharge – even paid time off to volunteer at causes that you care about. The benefits set forth in this posting reflect DDNJ's benefits policies in place at the time of posting, as are made available to other similarly situated employees of DDNJ, although participation is at all times in accordance with and subject to the eligibility and other provisions of such plans and programs. DDNJ reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to prospectively modify or terminate any of its benefits plans or programs at any time and for any reason, to the extent permitted by applicable law. DDNJ complies with all applicable state and federal wage and hour, pay equity and pay transparency laws. Delta Dental of New Jersey Inc is an equal opportunity employer All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, genetics, disability, marital status, age, veteran status, domestic partner status, medical condition or any other characteristic protected by law.